Among the candidates vying to become California’s next lieutenant governor are two Jewish Democrats who both once led small Bay Area cities.
Janelle Kellman, the former Sausalito mayor, and Josh Fryday, the former Novato mayor, both say their Jewish identities shape their approach to public service, but their backgrounds, priorities and political styles reflect two distinct visions for the office.
The race is unfolding as California universities continue grappling with campus tensions related to antisemitism, Israel and free speech following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza. In interviews with J., both candidates argued that the lieutenant governor’s role on university governing boards gives Jewish voters a direct stake in the race.
Under California’s top-two primary system, all candidates appear on the same primary ballot regardless of party, and the top two vote-getters advance to the November general election. This year’s statewide primary is scheduled for June 2, 2026, with the general election set for November 3, 2026.
While often dismissed as ceremonial, the lieutenant governor role carries significant sway over California’s public higher education systems, environmental policy and economic policy. The office has served as a stepping stone to higher office — most recently for Gov. Gavin Newsom, who held the position for eight years before winning the governorship in 2018.
“This race is a critically important one to the Jewish community,” said David Bocarsly, CEO of the advocacy group Jewish California. “One of the primary responsibilities of Lieutenant Governor is to sit on the boards of all three higher education institutions in California, the UC, the CSU and the Community College Board.”
Kellman and Fryday are among 16 office-seekers in the race. Other candidates include California State Treasurer Fiona Ma, former Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs, former state Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero and former OneRepublic band member Tim Myers.
For Kellman and Fryday, who are both endorsed by state and local Jewish advocacy groups like the Bay Area Jewish Coalition-Action, California Jewish Democrats and the California Legislative Jewish Caucus, the intersection of education, public service and civic responsibility is deeply tied to their Jewish values and upbringing.
Kellman is an environmental lawyer and nonprofit founder and executive who traces her Jewish roots back to her grandfather, who escaped pogroms in Russia and arrived in New York in the early 1900s. She was raised in northeastern Pennsylvania in what she described as a “conserva-dox” Jewish household. She attended a half-Hebrew, half-English Jewish day school run by the Chabad movement.
“For me to have the opportunities that I’ve had are just really the American dream,” Kellman told J. “Like so many Jewish immigrants, [my family] really focused on education and learning, which is part of why I was so attracted to the role of lieutenant governor.”
A lifelong athlete, Kellman got her start as the only girl playing “Biddy League” basketball at age eight at the JCC. Her sports career led to her getting recruited to play field hockey at Yale University, where she earned her undergraduate degree. She competed in the Maccabiah Games, known as the “Jewish Olympics,” in Israel while in college. While earning her master’s degree in environmental management at Oxford University, Kellman took up rowing. After law school at Stanford University, she chose to settle in Marin County for its dedicated rowing community.
She moved to Sausalito in 2001, where she still lives with her three rescue cats, and has since served on the city’s Planning Commission and City Council. In January 2022, she was unanimously selected by the council to serve as mayor.
Kellman doesn’t belong to a synagogue but regularly attends services and events at both Congregation Kol Shofar in Tiburon and Congregation Rodef Sholom in San Rafael and remains active in local Jewish organizing. Following the Oct. 7 attacks, she helped put together community gatherings and hostage-awareness Shabbat dinners through an informal local WhatsApp group called the “Salty Jews” — a nod to the town’s unofficial motto.
“The Jewish community in Sausalito really came together,” she said.
Kellman’s campaign centers on affordability, environmental concerns and the practical implementation of policy goals. She argues that California’s biggest challenge is not a lack of ideas, but a failure to execute.
“California does not lack values, we don’t lack ambition, we don’t lack talent,” she said. “But we lack implementation.”
On issues affecting Jewish Californians, Kellman pointed to concerns about campus antisemitism and public safety. She described Jewish safety as “a civil rights issue” and said the lieutenant governor’s role on university governing boards gives the office particular relevance to Jewish voters.
“Jewish students need to know they can fully participate in campus life without being harassed or asked to disavow part of who they are,” she said.
Although she is endorsed by East Area Progressive Democrats, Kellman describes herself as a “middle of the road moderate.”
“I’m progressive in a sense — I believe government has a responsibility to solve real problems around housing, climate, education and safety, but I am focused on practical, common sense solutions,” she said.
“When you’re a mayor, you understand how to be practical. I’m pro- taking care of the climate, and I’m pro-business because it’s a practical thing to do.” Kellman explained.
Kellman says her “common sense” approach also applies to how she navigates being Jewish in the Democratic Party, where opinions on many issues, including Israel, can be varied across party members.
“I can love the United States and dislike Trump, and I can love Israel and dislike Netanyahu,” she said. “I think there is a place for that. I think what has happened in Gaza is an atrocity, and that Hamas is a terrorist organization.”
“Sometimes you have to try to see whole, multiple truths at one time,” she added.
Fryday, who serves as California’s chief service officer, leading volunteer and civic engagement efforts in Newsom’s cabinet, grew up all over Marin County. He regularly speaks about his childhood housing instability and how his family moved 17 times by the time he was 18 years old.
After his parents divorced, Fryday was raised primarily by his Jewish mother and grew up attending Congregation Rodef Sholom. Fryday told J. that the Jewish values of social justice and service guided his path into military service and politics.
“We have an obligation, with the values of tikkun olam, to try to make the world a better place,” he said.
After earning his undergraduate and law degrees at UC Berkeley, Fryday joined the U.S. Navy’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps and represented detainees at Guantánamo Bay in court.
In 2013, Fryday testified before a U.S. Senate Judiciary subcommittee about the detention facility, arguing that the military court system for Guantánamo was inconsistent with American legal values. He said he represented an Afghan detainee who had been held for years without a clear resolution, lacking normal due process protections such as access to evidence and the ability to confront accusers. Fryday said the system hurt America’s credibility internationally.
“Right now we need Democrats with guts, and we need Democrats with courage,” Fryday said. “It’s what I’ve demonstrated my entire life, not just in signing up to serve in the military to protect our country, but in standing up for our values and speaking out when those values are undermined, even if it’s by our government.”
Fryday became mayor of Novato in 2017, and was appointed California’s first chief service officer by Newsom two years later.
He now lives in Davis with his wife, a second-grade public school teacher, and their three sons. The family belongs to Congregation Bet Haverim, a Reform synagogue.
Fryday’s campaign priorities include housing affordability, clean energy development and a universal statewide service program.
“If everyone had the chance to serve like I did in the military, I think it would address so many challenges in our society, not just in tackling issues like climate change, food insecurity and education, but also the youth mental health crisis,” he said.
Like Kellman, Fryday sees the lieutenant governor’s influence over higher education as especially important in the current political climate. He said he would push universities to take antisemitism more seriously while maintaining protections for free speech.
“We need to create campuses where every student feels safe,” he said.
Fryday also said rising antisemitism in schools and public life is “not a partisan issue,” citing the December 2025 Branham High School swastika incident in San Jose and declining Holocaust literacy among young Americans.
“We all have work to do,” he said.
Fryday said his signature universal service initiative is modeled partly on Israel’s national service system. His experience living on Kibbutz Mishmar Hasharon near Netanya in 2000 helped shape his thinking about how shared service can build social cohesion, he said.
“I saw the impact of a culture where service is expected,” Fryday said. “Every young person there has to serve, and I saw how that can bring people together.”
Fryday said that while he has “a deep emotional connection” to Israel, his focus is on politics here at home.
“I support Israel and I’m also heartbroken by what’s happened over the last couple years there,” he said. “We should make sure that there’s less violence on both sides, but what I’m focused on, running for lieutenant governor in California, is how we keep our communities and campuses here safe for everybody.”
California’s current lieutenant governor, Eleni Kounalakis, has publicly spoken out against antisemitism and hate incidents affecting Jewish communities throughout her tenure, especially following Oct. 7, 2023.
Bocarsly, of the group Jewish California, said he hopes that whoever is elected carries Kounalakis’s legacy.
“We’ve been very blessed with an incredible champion in our current lieutenant governor,” Bocarsly said. “We sincerely hope that our next lieutenant governor will also be willing to work with our community and be a voice for Jewish students on college campuses.